


won't you allow yourself fall (nothing can hurt you at all)

by SegaBarrett



Category: 13 Reasons Why (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Hospitals, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:01:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25642462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SegaBarrett/pseuds/SegaBarrett
Summary: "With your consent, I can experiment further still..."For the first week after, Bryce sleeps.Or, the aftermath of a 2x13 AU.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	won't you allow yourself fall (nothing can hurt you at all)

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own 13 Reasons Why and I make no money from this. 
> 
> A/N: Title and quote in summary are from "Entangled" by Genesis.

For the first week after, Bryce sleeps.

Fitful sleep, full of dreams that he is trapped in, locked in.

Dreams hosted by Hannah Baker. Of course they would be.

She sits on a rock and observes him, a finger in her hair, silent at first. It would be easier if she spoke. He thinks, at least.

It might be the fourth day or the fifty-fourth when she says, “Should we talk about what brought you here?”

“Or we could not.”

“We could not, but then you’re never getting out. That’s how these things work. You need to make a choice, Bryce. Whether you want to live.”

“That’s kind of dramatic.”

“You don’t think what happened to you was a little... dramatic, too?”

***

The thing is, Bryce doesn’t remember. Not quite.

He was on the field, leaning back to fix a ball in his sights, watching it cutting across the sun. Leaning back.

He feels claustrophobic, trapped. It doesn’t fit the wide open field and the sun shining down on him. When he looks around, there is no one in the stands, no one on base.

He is alone.

***

“Ready to talk?”

“Get out of here, Hannah.”

“Not until you’re ready to talk about what happened.”

“I don’t remember what happened.” It’s all white space and questions. He wishes he was back on the field.

“You do. You just don’t want to.”

***

In the locker room, Zach claps him on the back and Justin smiles at him. Their faces are blurry, but he knows it has to be them. Who else would it be?

“I’ll catch up, guys,” he says. He knows Justin won’t leave without him, anyway.

He slips behind the bathroom door and turns the latch.

A moment later, panic seized him and he tries to turn it back again.

It won’t budge.

***

“I don’t know about you, but I’m getting bored.”

“This is more than we ever talked before,” Bryce muses. His eyes feel tired, like he’s awake even when he’s asleep.

“I’ll be glad to go, as soon as you remember.”

“What happens then?”

“Then, you need to make a decision.”

***

The Walkers’ housekeeper, when Bryce was little, was named Caroline. She was quiet and kind and spoke Creole and wore long, gray shawls.

When Bryce was home sick from school, he would perch on the couch and they would watch Lifetime movies together until she had to get back to cleaning.

He’s back there now, standing outside the house’s mammoth kitchen and watching as Caroline tackles the tile.

Watches as she lifts the mop and dips it onto the big, yellow bucket.

Tips his head back and lets out a scream that he doesn’t understand.

“Not yet,” Hannah tells him.

***

On the seventh day, God rested.

Bryce Walker is resting too.

***

On the eighth day or the eighth month of the eighth year, Bryce remembers, remembers what Hannah saw.

Hannah was watching; he was sure of it.

Watching as Bryce argued with Montgomery de la Cruz. Watching as the argument drifted into the bathroom.

Watching as Bryce turned to find himself, for the first time, out-numbered.

Watching.

***

“So there we are.”

Bryce looks across at Hannah.

“What do I do now?” he asks, blood and pain drifting to the fore of his consciousness. Again.

“The hardest part, Bryce. You try to live, and remember it wasn’t your fault.”

“It really was, though. It was...”

Hannah chuckles.

“This one thing - it’s not. And this will be the one you can never convince yourself about.”

***

Bryce’s eyes open to a dizzy, constant hum.

“Where am I?” he asks, and then, “who am I?”

“Your name is Bryce Walker. You’re in Evergreen Hospital. And I’m sorry to say, you have a long way ahead of you.”


End file.
